Hello everyone! This is my very first Twilight fanfic. It's a story that has been floating around in my mind for quite some time now and finally flowed out. Please R&R, all feedback is welcome!

DISCLAIMER: I have never, nor will I ever own anything that has touched the lives and hands of millions, the Twilight Series included. Stephanie Meyers owns everything.

Without further ado……

The grass tickled my toes. I was focusing on the sensation of the small blades running under and over my feet, head down, eyes closed. Breathe in breathe out, breathe in breathe out. A mantra kept running through my mind, this moment, this mantra, happened every time. A slow burning anticipation spiked with a nervous kind of fear that I had to push through before I took the leap.

Breathe in, breathe out. One, two, three. Just do it, just do it, just do it. You know you will in the end, you cant avoid it now, just open your eyes and run. Breathe in, breathe out.

"Scared?" A voice, one of many, taunted me from behind. Snickers accompanied it, along with some other comments that I didn't get to hear, they had been drowned out with a low growl. The corners of my mouth hitched up. It always amazed me that a growl that would send any normal person's head down never failed to warm me from the inside out. I could already feel my pulse slow down, just a little, in response.

"Jeez, man. Chill. I was joking with her." The voice rang out in apology. I didn't have to look behind me to know the scene. It was familiar, so close it was almost like home. In my mind I could see the group of them sprawled out lazily over the grass, food spread around them.

Some would be leaning back, squinting their eyes against the sun as they watched. Others holding drinks in their hand, tossing various pieces of candy and snack food in their mouth. The rest huddled together on the log they had once fastened into a "wilderness-man-couch", as Embry had once put it. My smile grew larger, anticipation sending shivers down my body, of excitement, over what was about to happen.

"Come on, we don't have all night here." Another voice, Paul, called out. Another growl, I chuckled and turned my head. Not enough to see them, but just in response to their words. I didn't have to turn my head to know he was behind me. To know that throughout the entire exchange his eyes never left my body. To know that he was crouched down, waiting for what comes next.

He always claimed he hated this game, always told me that it was un-natural for him to let me do anything remotely dangerous, and this he deemed very dangerous. He said he hated it, and I believed him. I saw Embry's swollen eye, the day after he came up with the idea of "Extreme Trust Falls". But I was, simply put, addicted. I loved it, I loved all the feelings that it brought out of me, the rush, the exhilaration. The trust.

Because he couldn't deny me he gave in, under his conditions. I could do it with only him, only when the weather was satisfactory, and I couldn't look back. I knew why, my eyes. Not a day went by when he didn't tell me how dearly he loved my eyes, how the depths of them rendered him speechless. He was afraid they would also render them motionless, when the time came for him to run after me. A beautiful distraction, he called it.

This is it. One, Two, Three. I ran. There was no way to stop now. The anticipation was peaking, the air rushing in and out in pants, I could hear nothing outside of my heartbeat and the blood rushing through my ears. But I didn't have to hear to know that he was running after me. Focused. Eyes on his prey. On a good day he would admit that some feral part of him loved this game, loved the surge that came with chasing down what was his, loved feeding his need to chase, capture, and protect.

I closed my eyes for a second as I ran, seeing the edge of the cliffs coming up, and opened them just in time to leap off. This was the most calming moment, this split second of suspension so short that you missed it almost before it happened. That's when my mind kicks in and my body pulls itself into the cannon ball-like position that we've practiced, time and time again.

That's when I feel him, behind me in the air, hot arms swiftly pulling me to him. The pressure of his back against mine as my body jostles from the contact. I keep my eyes closed, knowing that during this moment time passes deceptively slow, and that we'll hit water any time.

Then we do. Our bodies surge into the cold waves and the sound of my blood rush is muffled by the sounds of the water. His hold tightens against me, and I relax my body straightening my legs. Leaving myself completely limp so that he could pull us both back up to the surface. It always amazes me how effortlessly he takes on the job of carrying both of our bodies through the water, like I'm not even there.

Gasping we break the surface and he holds me as he swims towards shore, not all the way but just enough so that his head is above water. He's so tall, and it doesn't help that I'm pretty short, that it is still above my head and I had to reach around his neck. Holding myself, but there was no need, he was holding me up with one arm. I started wiping water out of my face and pushing my hair out of my eyes as his deep chocolate eyes look over my face and body. I know him well enough to know that he is assessing for injuries. Concern masks his face.

"Are you alright, baby?" He asks, still not meeting my eyes, and raising one of my arms up to check for any unseen injuries. Laughing I pulled my arm out of his grasp and his eyes finally land on mine.

"Yes, I'm fine, I survived." Finally the concern melts off of his face and he smiles. The sun shines even brighter. A warm hand brushes across my cheek as he reaches his other hand around my head, cradling my neck. His lips brush against mine, and a feeling surges through me that rivals the free fall. Just from one touch. Amazing.

Just at that moment a series of "Whoops" filled through the air. "See, Jared. Told you she'd probably make it." Embry's voice called from above, followed by a fresh round of laughter.

I felt Jared's shoulders tense slightly and smiled into his lips. I pulled back and moved my head back and forth, brushing his nose with mine. Back, forth. Back, forth. Until he sighed and released the new tension from his shoulders.

I looked up to his eyes and gave him a chaste kiss pulling my head back. "Come on, wolf-man. Let's go to my house so you can check me over for injuries. More thoroughly."

A large smile cracked across his face and his eyes widened in delight. "You got it." He said swooping in for a kiss before he threw me over his shoulder. Bouncing through the water in the direction of home. My shrieks of laughter raising through the air and above the cliffs.